Veolia supplies two packaged water treatment plants to Bambisana Hospital

Veolia Water Technologies South Africa recently assisted state-owned hospital, Bambisana, with two packaged water treatment plants. Situated in remote Eastern Cape, the hospital required low-footprint and low-maintenance water treatment solutions to provide potable water to the hospital as well as to treat its sewage water for re-use. Veolia designed, manufactured and commissioned two of its trademarked containerised, plug-and-play solutions in just three months for the hospital.

“Our packaged plant solutions are a cost-effective alternative to in-ground plants and are well suited for remote areas that are situated away from bulk water infrastructure, such as with Bambisana hospital,” says Royston Moses, Project Engineer, Veolia Water Technologies South Africa.

Supplying consistent potable water

The previous reservoir infrastructure provided an inconsistent supply of water and was therefore unsuitable for the hospital that requires consistent, high-quality water for its day-to-day operations. “Furthermore, our water quality studies indicated that the existing reservoir and borehole water was host to low-concentration bacteria, high turbidity and slight residual colouring,” comments Moses. Veolia supplied the hospital its Potable Water Treatment Plant (PWTP™) that produces 120 m3 of high-quality potable water per day. The PWTP™ features a clarifier, sand filter, carbon filter and a range of chlorine, coagulant, flocculant and pH dosing equipment, all packaged in a single container to treat the water to SANS241 and WHO standards.

Treating hospital sewage

With no former sewage treatment infrastructure in place, the hospital also required a packaged plant to treat its wastewater according to the RSA General Standard for Discharge. Veolia addressed this with its packaged Sewage Treatment Plant (STP™) that upgrades 60 m3 of sewage water per day. Enclosed in 6 six-metre containers, the STP™ features Veolia’s cost-effective trickling filter technology to treat the sewage water to certified re-use standards, as well as a bar screen, septic tanks, clarifiers and chlorine-dosing equipment. This treated water is now re-used by the community for irrigation and agricultural purposes.

Both plants are fully containerised to protect the equipment from environmental impacts and for security reasons. “All our packaged water treatment solutions are pre-assembled and Factory Acceptance Tested at our workshop in Johannesburg. What this means for Bambisana hospital is that the plants simply needed to be ‘plugged-in and switched on’ when they arrived on site,” adds Moses. “By lowering manufacturing and commissioning time, we were able to supply these cost-effective water treatment plants in just three months.” 

 Although both the plants are easy to operate and require very little maintenance, Veolia remained onsite to provide local operator training. The PWTP™ was delivered to site in June 2017, closely followed by the STP™ two weeks later.